Reply to Does your socio-economic status inform how you feel about your child's school/education?

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "Does your socio-economic status inform how you feel about your child's school/education?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Does your socio-economic status inform how you feel about your child's school/education?[/quote]

How much money you have affects how you feel about your child's school/education in part because it influences what choices you have.

I think the high school my house is zoned for is lacking. 
It's poorly maintained, lacking air conditioning and drinkable water in the water fountains. It leaks, floors and ceiling, when it rains. There are bathrooms that have been out of service for over a year. Walls are cracked, floors are uneven. If my office looked like this, I would refuse to work there.
The teachers are mostly good, especially for upper level honors/AP classes. There are a decent number of courses to choose from. There are a variety of opportunities through classes, clubs, and athletics.
The students are a mix. There are a number of students who are on their way to dropping out. There are a significant number of students who do not speak english and the school is not particularly good at integrating the english speaking and english learning students, creating at least a 2-tiered education system. There are some significant behavior problems that affect the entire student body. Students can avoid many of these by getting on the "right" academic track and being careful around campus. It is easy for an undirected student to fall in with a number of different crowds. If you're lucky, your undirected student falls in with the studious or focused kids. If you're not, your undirected student might fall in with the early drop outs or budding criminals.

If I didn't have money, I'd make do. I'd be on my children to make sure they're able to get into the courses with the best teachers and most focused students, I'd make sure they had plenty of water to take to school, and I'd do my best to make sure they had access to functional bathrooms. I'd supplement areas the school couldn't handle, making sure they had access to classes beyond calculus, experienced some good lab science classes, or had access to a variety of foreign languages if that was their path, to the best of my ability.

Since I have money, I send my children to private school, where they have drinkable water in the water fountains, functional and clean bathrooms, and dedicated students and teachers. This means I don't have to be particularly worried about the health or safety of my children at school.

My neighbor children go to the zoned school and they're fine. My children would be fine. But I'm willing to spend money to get them a better environment because I have the money. If I didn't have the money, I'd focus on the teacher quality and focused students instead of the decrepit building and regular fights.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics